Trench Crusade

Only-Games visit and the Pledge Manager
16 days ago – Mon, Nov 18, 2024 at 11:13:49 AM

Greetings Crusaders,

I hope you’ve all had a good weekend and are ready for some news!

Only-Games facility visit

So what I should have been doing last week is recovering after the madness that was the KS campaign. And if any of my friends or family ask, please tell them that I was indeed having a long lie down in a dark room.

What I was actually doing though was going to London with James to visit Only-Games. Given the success of the campaign we all thought it would be best to have a face to face meeting as soon as possible.

We sat down and had a long discussion about the project and how it was going to be fulfilled, going into a lot of detail which I’m going to break down for you all here. To put it succinctly though, both me and James walked away very reassured.

The first reason for this is their setup. And I’m not talking about 3D printers here. Of course they have 2 rooms full of machines going day and night but, honestly, anyone with a credit card can have that. It’s the stages that come after the printing: Quality control, sorting and packing where OG have really innovated. The system they’ve developed tracks parts all the way through the process, from providing quality control agents with detailed 3D renders to check for defaults, all the way through to a barcode system to double check that all parts are present and correct for packing and shipping.

Next, their experience: Most of you will know Shop3D for their on demand printing services but they also have a lot of experience with bulk printing. They’re currently fulfilling a campaign for Greytide Studios which will be shipping even more individual pieces than we will for TC. We got to see how they were handling this and, once again, no notes.

Last, but not least, is that Factory Fortress and Only-Games clearly have a lot in common and get along like a heretic on fire. We have very similar views on miniatures, the industry and the wargaming community. They are very aware of the situation and the trust we’re placing in them with this project. At the same time, they’ve been waiting for an opportunity to show the world what they can really do, so they’re as committed to getting this done as we are.

For those of you that had some concerns, we also talked about some of the complaints levied against OG and they were very honest with their replies. They’re a company that’s really trying to push the boundaries of what 3D printing can do for the miniatures world. Of course, there have been teething issues as they’ve grown but they’ve continued to improve their process, fix any issues and, most importantly, make sure that everyone always receives their minis. A good example of this would be the aforementioned Greytide campaign. They found an issue with a particular piece and managed to get it fixed very quickly, another big advantage to 3D printing. Only 30 or so packages went out with the faulty piece and those concerned have had parts reprinted and sent.

So, as I said before, we’re very reassured after our visit (and I’m sleeping a lot better). But, what does that mean for delivery, Jamie? I hear you all cry.

Well it’s good news. Despite having around 3K more orders than the original estimation, Only-Games is standing firm on the 3-5 month delivery window. Barring any unforeseen issues, everyone will have their miniatures before the summer of 2025.

The current plan is to spend the rest of the year test printing and finalizing the files for bulk printing as well as pre-producing as much as possible. Things will really start up in January and the first packages will start to ship out before the end of the month.

I’ll finish with some photos of the test prints that we picked up whilst we were there. Like with the pics on the KS page, almost no cleanup was done on these. There’s a few changes we want to make to the thickness of certain parts (like the Plague Knight’s polearm) but otherwise we’re very happy with the results!

The Pledge Manager

The visit to OG did have one downside in that it took up a lot of my time last week. I was not able to finalize the pledge manager and still need some time to sort out the last few details and give it a test run. Therefore, the PM will now be launching next week instead. I’ll be back next monday (the 25th) with news and a final date, but it will be during the week starting on the 25th!

Obviously this doesn’t delay the delivery to the backers who pledged physical miniatures but it will technically push the delivery of STL files back by a week or so. I'm sorry about this folks but it really was worth it to get physical production locked in. Also, jokes aside, I needed to ease off the throttle a bit this weekend after 3 weeks of frantic activity and just couldn’t get it done. I hope you can all understand.

I’ll finish by saying that we’re almost at the 20,000 members mark on Discord and 40,000 on Facebook! Our mods have also just finished doing a redesign of the Discord server too so if you're looking for a place to talk lore, share your warband plans or find crusaders in your area to play with, feel free to join us!

Have a great week folks and we’ll be back soon with more news!

The Battle is over. The War begins.
22 days ago – Tue, Nov 12, 2024 at 11:00:19 AM

Crusaders,

What a ride. We’ve said it before but it bears repeating; we never expected this level of support but we are eternally grateful for it.

What humbles and motivates us the most is the turnout. There are well over 20,000 of you in the trenches with us now. That, folks, is one hell of a community.

And with a community like this, we can make one hell of a game…

So, thank you all. I said before that this kind of support changes lives and it really will. We now get to look much further into the game’s future than we ever could have hoped. We have so many ideas and plans that we are very excited to share.

But.

First things first.

This part of the campaign is over and the next step is the pledge manager. This is where you'll be able to confirm exactly what you'd like to receive as well as sorting out billing and shipping details. Rest assured that you can increase your pledge level and add more rewards during this time too.

You can expect an email invitation to a site called Gamefound sometime around the middle of next week. This is not a hard date however. The page is almost ready, all we need to do is finalize a few fiddly details. These are nevertheless very important given the number of backers, so it will take the time it takes to get it right. We’ll be sure to put out an update to let you all know where we are with things early next week.

Until then we’ll still be here in the comments to answer questions and you can also join the Discord for even more TC shenanigans.

Our deepest thanks once again, Crusaders.

See you in the trenches.

Jamie, Mike, Tuomas & James.

And because we can’t leave without showing you something cool, from the legend himself, Paul Bonner…

Bishops of the Brush
24 days ago – Sun, Nov 10, 2024 at 08:07:26 AM

Greetings Crusaders,

Today we have some more gorgeous pics to get you inspired to paint! This time it's from out own studio team.

Starting with some of the Court models from Stéphane Nguyen:

All the Court models were sculpted by Akshay Kumar 

We also have some new pics from Loïc Muzy!

As well as a rather interesting "winter war" colour scheme

The Lieutenant and Trench Cleric were sculpted by Joaquin Revilla Martín
The Yeomen were sculpted by Edoardo Fusi
New Antioch models were painted by Martin Grandbarbe
Terrain was sculpted by Marco Chitarrini and painted by Loic Muzy

 

Pontifex of Paint
26 days ago – Sat, Nov 09, 2024 at 04:03:43 AM

Greetings Crusaders,

As this weeks update's have featured a LOT of words, how about some photos this week-end to get your mojo going to work on some minis?

Cool? Cool.

We are extremely proud to present these stunning Trench Crusade models produced by  Alessandro Bonavero of @dark_ages_workshop using secret, esoteric techniques of miniature painting that he has developed over decades of dedication to his art. 

His unique style, uncompromising vision and skill at creating dramatic photography to match his painting style is the perfect match for Trench Crusade. 

The rulebook will feature a full section of Alessandro's photographs of the game miniatures he has painted, along with his custom-built terrain backdrops, as well as introduction to the techniques he uses to achieve these truly grimdark results. 

We look forward to further collaboration with Alessandro, and hope to one day do a Trench Crusade painting video with him!

Dispatches from the Carcass Front #1
26 days ago – Fri, Nov 08, 2024 at 05:57:56 AM

Letter 1: “In the beginning…”

Greetings esteemed Crusaders! Brother Tuomas reporting here from the Frozen North!

I thought I’d jot down a few words explaining the plans for the forthcoming Carcass Front campaign rules and options that your support has opened as a Stretch Goal. All backers will receive these rules and supporting assets digitally, for free.

The Standard Map Based Campaign

At the heart of the Campaign mode is a lavish full-colour map covering the part of No Man’s Land known as the Carcass Front - a place filled with hidden secrets and lost holy places for you to find and explore. The Carcass Front is divided into several unique locations that warbands participating in the campaign can explore and fight for.

You start the campaign with the standard 700 ducats. There is no hard limit to the number of players, though in practice huge campaigns of 12+ players may be somewhat cumbersome to run.

Warbands take turns to move around the Campaign map, and depending on their location, success in battles and composition of their forces, they may conquer one or more locations on the map. Winning battles will allow players to raise their flag over the annexed territory (and placing a pin on the map if you’d like!), while the losing side must retreat into less lucrative territories on the sidelines to plot their revenge.

Between battles, the Map Campaign comes with a new way to spend your hard fought gains: each warband will have a base of operations you can expand and upgrade. This opens up various options for increasing your warband size, hiring mercenaries and allies, acquiring equipment and armaments, and conducting special training for your troops.

Each warband will begin the campaign by selecting several goals that they are trying to achieve. These can range from a number of victories in battle, defeating enemy elites, exploring a certain location of the map, amassing a great deal of wealth or glory, destroying a set number of enemies and so on. Completing each of these tasks will net the player a set number of Victory Points that count towards the overall campaign victory. Once a player reaches the required number of Victory Points the campaign will end and players can see their final standing on the Honour Roll.

But that is not the only way to use the map in your campaigns. We will also offer a second way to enjoy the Carcass Front, namely Story Campaigns!

The Story Campaign

Those of you who are familiar with some of the classic campaign packs I’ve written in the past, such as Tears of Isha and Circle of Blood, will be familiar with this concept. This style of campaign will allow you to take part in the history of the Great War, where you and one of your friends assume the roles of famous individuals from the Trench Crusade lore and try to influence the outcome of the notorious Operation Leviathan.

Instead of freely moving about the map, the Story Campaign features set battles with special rules which the players engage in, starting with a Heretic incursion into No Man’s Land to sever the chains of לִוְיָתָן (Leviathan) that are hidden somewhere in this theater of war.

Between battles, you will be given options to strengthen your forces depending on your choices and success in the previous battle, as well as exploring the location your warband is currently occupying.

After each battle, depending on whether you won or lost, you can then select, from a limited number of options, what you will do next (think of it like a “choose your own adventure” game book). Once both players have made their choices they consult a chart to see which battle they will fight next and where they move on the map.

The Story Campaign will culminate in a final battle where all the bonuses and penalties from the previous battle will be in effect, giving players access to special troops, weapons and gameplay effects that can alter the final outcome. The winner of the final battle then claims the overall victory.

I hope you are as excited to play the map based Campaigns as I am to write them!

Tuomas